A material handling system is a system in which materials are handled by transporting them in accordance with a determined destination and which may comprise sorting such materials in accordance with such destinations. It is to be understood that the materials handled in the examples herein are items such as postal parcels or airport baggage and similar goods of various sizes and shapes.
In some systems, the materials can be moved on containers or totes. Such totes can be moved by a driven belt or a roller in various types of material handling systems. There are numerous types of sites where such material handling systems are used, and particular examples are postal package hubs, mail order distribution centres and airports.
A high capacity is required in such handling and sorting systems, e.g. in airports where all luggage from a just landed aircraft should be handled fast in order to provide a high service level to the airline companies and to the travellers. Thus, a maximum capacity of a handling and sorting system is important.
Sometimes, the sorting mechanisms of such systems is a bottle neck with respect to maximum throughput of containers or totes per time unit. Especially, in many existing systems, the container or tote is stopped in its forward motion when arriving at the sorting mechanism. The sorting mechanism is serving to tilt the container or tote for emptying its load, i.e. to discharge the load, at its target destination. This means that the process of emptying the container or tote limits the maximum capacity of the entire handling and sorting system.